The midfielder, who missed much of the club's relegation campaign with injury problems, returned to action on Saturday to help the Wearsiders kick off a busy pre-season programme with a 4-0 victory at Durham City.

Kevin Phillips, Gavin McCann and Michael Gray watched at the Archibald Stadium and the trio are among those whose futures are in doubt as chairman Bob Murray tries to cut a crippling debt.

But, despite his disappointment at the impending break-up of a close-knit squad, McAteer insists the club's star sale will give McCarthy a better chance of bringing Premiership football back to the Stadium of Light.

"The club has made it clear that there are financial problems and that assets have to be sold," said the Republic of Ireland international, who got 45 minutes under his belt as Sunderland eased to victory against their Northern League opponents with goals from John Oster, Jody Craddock, Michael Proctor and Kevin Kilbane. "The assets are the better players and we know that the likes of Kevin and Gavin will probably move on. But Mick is building a team for next season and we saw a glimpse of that at Durham, where there were a number of our bigger players missing. We are grown men, we know what the game is about and we know players have to go but sometimes it isn't a bad thing when players do move on.

"If you have a squad of 16 Premier League players, you won't get out of the First Division.

"I know that from my time with Blackburn. We had a squad equipped for the Premier League and we couldn't get out of Division One because it's a different game there.

"When Brian Kidd left Blackburn, Graeme Souness got rid of a lot of people and bought First Division players and they got the club up.

"You have to have players who can adapt to the First Division and able to play there, that's what Mick is trying to do."

Aston Villa boss David O'Leary is expected to table a #5m joint bid for McCann and Thomas S?rensen this week, while Phillips is unlikely to still be on the books when Sunderland open the Nationwide League season at Nottingham Forest on August 9.

The Black Cats played friendlies in France, Belgium and Spain last summer but this year have a domestic programme with three fixtures in Scotland and trips to Grimsby and Huddersfield.

McCarthy's men play next at York City on Wednesday. McAteer, who admits that Peter Reid's last pre-season campaign was a disaster, knows how important the next three weeks will be to the club's ambitions.

He said: "Last year we had a very disappointing pre-season. Before we knew it, the season had arrived. We didn't prepare properly and paid the price."

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Sunderland midfielder Claudio Reyna continued his comeback from injury by playing an hour in the USA's 2-0 Concacaf Gold Cup win over El Salvador yesterday.

Reyna has not played for the Black Cats since suffering knee ligament damage last October.